Remember the Swedish places that are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list? I know, “world heritage” might not sound like the most exciting thing, but believe me, this list is about to get smoking! I just listened to an interesting radio program about UNESCO’s new plan to expand the list and also include traditions, events and intangible (immateriella) things as world heritage. It turns out that many African and Aisan countries are unhappy with the list, since Europe pretty much dominates it, because of its long and well preserved history. So, this year, all the 117 countries that have agreed to the UNESCO-convention will give suggestions on what traditions, rituals, events, languages, phenomenons or recipes that they think should be added to the list. Uruguyan tango has already made it, China wants to preserve its dragon-boat festival, Mongolian throat singing and Chinese calligraphy. Italy wants to add Sicilian puppet theatre, Hungary their six days end of the winter-festival and Norway have just launched a webpage where the Norweigans can give their suggestions (förslag).
The Swedes? Well, it’s up to the Cultural Department to pick someone that can come up with suggestions. But already, there’s rumors. Straight from the grapevine, here are some suggestions of Swedish intangible things that could be added to the UNESCO World Heritage list:
Allsång (Sing-a-long)
Swedes love to sing, especially if there are thousands of us doing it at the same time. In summer, almost every town has their own sing-a-long event which basically include a stage, a sing-a-long leader, some celebrity guests, some traditional Swedish songs and a singing audience. The master of all sing-a-longs is the TV-program “Allsång på Skansen” (Sing-a-long from Skansen) which has been shown on telly since 1979 but has been going as an event since 1935. Today, this is an incredibly popular tv-show. The celebrities are fighting for an invite and people are sleeping outside the gates to get a front row seat.
The preparation of lutfisk (Lyefish):
There’s one thing on the Christmas table that almost every newbie in Sweden dreads. Lutfisk. To be fair, lutfisk is seldom seen today, but my family, along with a whole bunch of other traditionalists, still serve this very…special kind of fish. Lutfisk is made from dried whitefish (normally ling), prepared with lye, in a sequence of particular treatments. The first treatment is to soak the stockfish in cold water for five to six days. The saturated stockfish is then soaked in a solution of cold water and lye for two more days. The fish swells during this process and becomes jellylike and very unappetizing. When this treatment is finished, the fish has a pH value of 11–12 and is therefore caustic. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days of soaking in cold water is needed. By now, if you haven’t lost your patience and appetite, the lutfisk is ready to be cooked.
Tempted?
Honestly, to me lutfisk tastes of nothing. It’s the creme sauce, the peas, the pepper, the melted butter and the potatoes that do the trick. But I do agree, this tradition needs to be preserved. It probably runs the risk of dying out quite quickly otherwise…
Gotlandsdricke
Gotland is a beautiful island in the Baltic sea, with a long an interesting history and some amazing scenery. Gotland has a lot of local traditions, such as its own special accent (gutamål), its own breed of horses (Gotlandsruss) and its own special brew. This brew, Gotlandsdricke, is a beer-like drink made from hops, malt, yeast, water and branches from a juniper bush and can be horribly strong. And – should be home brewed!
So, there we have it, Sweden in a nutshell (Sverige i ett nötskal)! Music, a weird fish-dish and alcohol. Add Lucia and Midsummer and the list is complete! But jokes apart, it will be quite interesting to see what makes it onto the list in the end. Any suggestions for the committee? Or, what would you add to the list from your country?
